A WIFE and her criminal lover hired a hitman to kill her husband for his £750,000 life insurance payout, a court heard. Lisa Fairpo, 36, is accused of plotting with her former lover Darren Wilson to murder her husband Andrew Burr by paying a hitman £10,000.
It is alleged she was taking revenge on him for allegedly blinding her in one eye, as well as for financial gain. In April, she offered to pay a £71-a-month life insurance premium for Mr Burr. She gave her husband a number to ring and he jokingly told the broker: "I think my wife is trying to bump me off".
Mrs Fairpo, of Hollym, married Mr Burr, a painter and decorator, in 2005 and the pair had been together 13 years. They had borrowed money from 46-year-old Mr Wilson, a rogue debt collector, Hull Crown Court heard. The couple had £24,000 in debts due to Mrs Fairpo's addiction to shopping and were close to bankruptcy.
Hitman Mikail Ward has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder Mr Burr and claimed he was paid £10,000 to stab him. He walked into a police station in London and told officers he had been paid to kill someone by Mr Wilson.
The court heard Ward, 42, of Dewsbury Court, west Hull, owed Mr Wilson £1,500 in debts and £750 in interest and could not afford to pay him.
Prosecutor Mark McKone said: "Mr Wilson offered him £10,000 to kill a painter and decorator with a knife. Mr Ward had suggested a gun would be better but Mr Wilson said he wanted the victim to suffer."
Mrs Fairpo was arrested and told the police: "I could never hurt him". She claimed her husband had punched her and blinded her but was "pleased" because it meant she got £2,500 a month in benefits, the court heard.
Mrs Fairpo and Mr Wilson both deny a charge of conspiracy to commit murder between January and April.
Mr Wilson and his brother Dean Armstrong were running a multi-million pound cannabis operation across the area at the time, the court heard.
The prosecution allege Mr Wilson and Mr Armstrong, 39, got people to commit serious crimes on their behalf. They ran "profitable" cannabis factories in large houses across Hull obtained through GC Lettings agency, which Mr Armstrong worked for, the court heard.
Mr Wilson is also accused of conspiracy to commit arson. It is alleged he arranged for someone to petrol bomb a three-storey four-bedroomed house in Grove Street, west Hull, on New Year's Eve, to force the occupants out of their home so he could use it to grow cannabis. His brother has pleaded guilty to the arson charge.
Mr Armstrong helped the family board the house up afterwards and offered to find them a new home but they refused to move. In the weeks after the attack, occupant Donna Nagi was sent messages allegedly from the brothers saying "still alive but not for long".
Another mistress of Mr Wilson's, Pauline Jackson, who he also loaned money to, claimed Mr Wilson had confessed to her about conspiring to murder Mr Burr and to having the Grove Street property fire bombed so he could scare the tenants and use it to produce cannabis.
Mr McKone said: "In April, Mr Wilson told Pauline that he and Dean were getting someone 'done in' over an insurance claim. He was to get £30,000 and Mickey Ward £10,000."
Mr McKone said: "In January, Mr Wilson asked Pauline if she had seen the Hull Daily Mail about the petrol bombing. Mr Wilson said the house got petrol bombed as he and Dean thought it was ideal for growing cannabis as it was large and in a good location. Mr Wilson said he thought it would scare the tenant out."
Mr Wilson, of Appin Close, Bransholme, and Mr Armstrong, of Coltman Street, west Hull, have both pleaded guilty to growing cannabis in factories across Hull.The trial continues.
• Hitman accused of seeking revenge on man who 'hired him' because of 'stolen cannabis factory'
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